The Heroine
by Saigi
Summary: Heroines are special and Sakura is normal. So she questions the depth of her character and her qualification as a heroine. Is it wrong to be characterised as 'in love? Surely, even normal girls are capable of being a heroine of some sort. AU. SasuSaku.
1. Prelude to Sakura

**The Heroine**

**SUMMARY:** Sometimes Sakura questions the depth of her character. Is it wrong to be characterised around love? AU. SasuSaku.

**Foreword:** This is set in a Japanese university setting. I haven't written anything in a very long time, so this fiction is extremely experimental. All terminologies and their explanations are at the bottom of the page.

I apologise in advance for any grammatically errors.

**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to their respective creator Kishimoto Masashi.

* * *

**Prelude to Sakura**

The warm mid-spring sunlight glorified Konoha National University where countless students hustled along the cherry blossom lined path. It was the opening ceremony day and Haruno Sakura tensely stood before the gate, eyes drinking in the dignified construction where petals danced in the wind flicker shades of pink under the light. The scent in the air summoned nostalgia of many previous springs.

_I'm finally here_.

Sakura gulped down a breath she never knew she was holding and began assessing how she should take her first step into the sacred ground. She had previously entered Konoha to undertake the entrance examination, but entering the compound at that very moment was _different_, like a different shade of the same flavour. Feeling somewhat ridiculous in dramatizing her entrance, Sakura hesitated and slowly, but steadily, lifted her right feet.

A flash of yellow sped past her, knocking her something, or rather someone – who had caught her before she met concrete. Sakura snapped her eyes open to meet the saviour; instead the blinding sun welcomed her.

His features were shadowed, but when he settled her back to neutral position as the shadows slowly dawned on him, _handsome _was barely sufficient as a first impression. Sakura stared, very hard.

"Teme! What's taking you- moved fast!" the source of her impact – a blonde boy eyed the boy beside her judgingly, eyes scrutinising his friend's hands, the ones that were retreating from Sakura.

"Watch where you're going dead last." Despite the harsh words, her saviour's tone sounded neutral if not almost endearing. Sakura continued staring, she was at a loss for words because she has never seen a man so visually perfect before.

"Oh~ sorry. " The blonde boy scratched his head and smiled apologetically at Sakura.

"Aa~ it's nothing." Sakura snapped out of the trance, she remembered her manners and turned to her saviour, "T-Thank you." Sakura bowed, not feeling the capability of moving her invasive eyes away from his face.

"Aa." The saviour replied and questioned her stare with his own. Shyness and probably embarrassment diverted her gaze to the ground, cheeks flaming in heat. Yet, it didn't take her curiosity long to sneakily look back and examined the boy. Strong jaw, high nose, and sharp eyes. His messy dark hair and black suit contrasted against the white scene of blossom before them, as if the scene of blossom surrounding them was made for him and only for him. Sakura couldn't help but felt washed out and blended into part of the background. He evoked charisma, something Sakura lacked.

The boy nodded a farewell, eyes holding her gaze for a bit as he continued ahead to catch up to the blonde, casually giving his friend a soft smack on the head.

"You're a public disturbance." Sakura heard the saviour tell his friend.

The blonde rubbed his head and retorted, but by then they had been out of earshot.

_So much for taking one step at a time. _

Sakura looked down at her own feet to find that she had already entered school grounds.

A whirlwind of flower petals grazed coolly on Sakura's skin as she embraced the scent lingering in the air and continues watching her two encounters' back. They were straight, proud, and with confidence as elite students of Konoha.

"Let's go Sakura, you're not different to them." She whispered to herself and took the next step into four years of Konoha National University.

_She is Haruno Sakura, and this is her story where she is the heroine._

Konoha National University has been her educational life long goals.

The university was prestigious and attending Konoha would completely ensure a career success. For Sakura who had lived her entire life in a major city, family and friends had roared in laughter before congratulating her success in entering Konoha. They took turns jesting that the four years of her university life was be the same as a 'training trip in the mountains', with pun intended.

Sakura paid them no heed. The prestige in Konoha's name made it all worth the sacrifice, for a heroine like Sakura, Konoha's tittle was nothing less than 'fitting'. Attending Konoha meant perfection, _brain_, _brawl_ and _beauty_. She was a perfect heroine.

Attending Konoha had also meant that Sakura was to live in student accommodation. Her room was a single living-dinning-kitchen room on the third floor of an apartment complex named _Yamashikanai._ It was decent sized with lots of sunlight, and a small balcony overlooking…a mountain. She couldn't ask for anymore or any less because living alone meant _freedom_.

Despite being _free_, Sakura had always been the type to be bounded by rules and teachings of her upbringing. Somehow Sakura began embracing it at some point along the way led Sakura to the state she was in.

In front of room 303, Sakura knocked softly upon her neighbor's door. She had initially started with 301 where an _Uchiha_-san was residing, according to the nameplate, but no response came after five minutes so she proceeded to room 303 with _Uzumaki_ underneath the nameplate. After a good minute, the door opened and Sakura greeted a familiar face.

"Ah!" Uzumaki and her yelled simultaneously upon recognition the other from the entrance ceremony incident.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, I've just moved into 302. I'll be in your care." Sakura bowed politely, feeling strange the words that was playing at the back of her mind since arrival has finally left her mouth. An unknown sense of pressure had lifted itself from her shoulders.

"Same here," Uzumaki replied, "Just call me Naruto."

"Nice to meet you Naruto. This is nothing much, but please accept it." Sakura offered a wrapped jar of homemade jam her mother had previously prepared. She had insisted in more conventional gifts such as traditional snacks, but her mother had insisted upon the family's various flavours of jams, even the ever so unique _tomato_ jam.

Naruto's eyes intensely brightened and accepted the gift.

"Wah! Sakura-chan! You're not only cute but really kind!"

"I'm glad you like it." She replied, flattered at his comment.

"TEME! Come out and say hi to our new neighbour!" Naruto yelled into the depth of his apartment. Sakura watched curiously where moments later, another family face met her equally surprised one.

"This is Sakura-chan from 302. And this bastard is Uchiha Sasuke, he's from 301!"

Sakura frowned upon the pet name Naruto gave his friend but decided not to pry.

"Ah! I'll be in your care from now on." She carefully bowed.

"Aa." Sasuke replied with a nod. Sakura had expected more of a response, yet upon sensing the lack of it, she opted to rummage through her basket for another jar of jam and gestured it towards Sasuke's direction. It was the infamous _tomato_ jam. Heat naturally spanned across Sakura's face and she felt stupid, stupid because the back of her mind feared that he might not take the present because it was so lame and he did not look the type to have sweet things. She was immensely surprised when he took the jar.

"Don't mind this guy, it may seem like he's got a two metre poll stuck up his ass, but he's actually a real softi—OW" Sasuke knocked Naruto's head hard before the boy could finish his sentence. "TEME, WANNA DIE!"

Sakura chuckled. "You two are close." Her laugh fell into awkwardness when she noticed Sasuke's silent gaze on her, he looked down at the gift once more, gave her a curt nod and walked back into Naruto's apartment. Her eyes follow his disappearing back, almost unable to tear off.

"Trying to look cool in are we?" Naruto muttered, almost inaudibly, under his breath. He quickly diverted his attention back to Sakura, face grinning ridiculously bright, just like the morning sun. "Did you just move in today?"

Sakura noded in reply. "Un."

"Say Sakura-chan, are you doing anything tonight?" he asked, grinning pearly white teeth widely.

"No, I guess nothing in particular."

"Hehehehe" Naruto snickered, "wanna join the rest of us on for a drink up in my room?"

When Sakura was younger and was still daddy's girl, her father had taught her many things. Among those, the one thing that played in the back of her mind like a broken cassette was to stay away from boys. What father had failed to teach her was to stay away from alcohol whilst underage, and Sakura jumped at her first chance of freedom when invited to a drink up.

That night, Sakura found herself squeezing in Naruto's small room with twelve others who were already intoxicated when she entered. The old nerdy Sakura would have never fathom the chances having her first party second night into university life and introduced herself dumbly, "Hi I'm Sakura, Naruto's neighbour."

Naruto's friends whose names Sakura has managed to remember were a friendly bunch. _Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Chouji, and Shino. _Many of them either went to high school with Naruto or had met him through karate competitions and were invited to the drink up. _Sai_ joined them when he was seventeen. Whilst the group of senpai in the room, _Neji, Tenten, _and_ Lee_ all grew up together with the group.

Socialising has never been Sakura's forte, but it didn't take long for Sakura to find herself chatting animatedly with the group whilst getting coaxed into joining their karate circle.

"EH! Sakura you haven't decided on any clubs or circles yet?" Tenten reacted rather loudly, causing several heads in the room to turn.

"I've been so busy moving that I haven't gotten the chance."

"What about high school?" Lee, the only male in their girls talk chirped in, suddenly interested in whatever Sakura has to say.

"I was in the karate club up until second year of junior high." She exclaimed through careful selection of words with the hope that they were not going to view her as some kind of study bug.

"That's great Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled from across the room where conversation was almost inaudible. "Join us~~"

"You will join our karate circle wont you?" Hinata asked, eyes hopefully looking at Sakura.

"We do a lot of other activities too, like drink ups!" Kiba added hand lifting another can of beer from Naruto's fridge.

Lee aggressively pushed Hinata and Kiba out of the way to inch closer to Sakura and took hold of both her hands. "Sakura-san I believe it is fate for you to have met the karate club first." His eyes brightened with stars. It was a little disturbing for Sakura's taste, but she tolerated by keeping her mouth shut.

It wasn't until until Neji sent a _friendly_ punch that sent Lee smashing against the window, saving Sakura in the process. "Haven't we established that there is no such thing as fate?"

Sakura established that violence was a norm in the karate circle.

"But you'll join our circle right?" Sai's question had sounded more like a statement.

They all watched her with expectant eyes and Sakura looked at them all, feeling the nerves running through her like a hundred miles. At the back of the room near the balcony Sasuke caught her eyes. He too was watching, but more out of curiosity rather than expectations. Sakura soon succumbed to the pressure.

"Eh- I guess I'll join."

"Welcome to the karate circle." Ino slapped Sakura, and she just knew that she was at the point of no return. Everyone assumed their previous activities and when Sakura searched the room for Sasuke, he was gone, disappeared just like the wind blowing from the balcony. Her attention was brought back to the room where Lee had put an arm around her shoulder.

"Yosh! In celebration of Sakura-san's admission to our circle, as vice leader of the karate circle I command you all to drink!"

"OOH!"

A few hours into the session, feelings of suffocation began pooling and Sakura carried her can of beer out to the balcony for fresh air. There she found that none other than Uchiha Sasuke was occupying the space alone, staring far ahead into the mountain scene.

The moon's graceful presence illuminated his features in ways Sakura never imagined simple moonlight could on a person. He carried himself with an air of indifference that if she could reach out and touch, she would be immersed into an illusion. If it weren't for the faint scent of his cologne that was capable in short-circuiting any girl, Sakura would have thought that she was indeed hallucinating.

"Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned to the sound of his voice calling out for his name. He was blank of expression yet his eyes stared at her intensely and made her shy away.

"Ah~ the wind is nice out here isn't it?" Sakura babbled, fixing her attention on the dancing petals. It was a completely beautiful distraction.

…

He did not respond and Sakura continued to babble anyways because when Sakura short-circuit making her babbled as if tomorrow would never come.

"It must be nice to be here with so many friends. I'm from a faraway town so I don't know anyone at all."

…

His silence made it even more suffocating.

…

"You don't talk much do you?" Sakura said words that had meant to be inner thoughts. Upon realising that it could be rude to voice her opinion, she looked at him alarmly, hoping to catch a sign, any kind of sign that would tell her that he wasn't offended. "Ah sorry I didn't mean-

"You're noisy." He said, and before Sakura could comprehend how she could have possibly annoy him so much, Uchiha Sasuke's lips were pressed against hers, short-circuiting her brain then and there.

_H-He is kissing me?_ An arm slid down her waist and reeled her body in, pressing her closer to him. Not wasting a second to let her dawdle on confused thoughts and urgently licked her lower lips, effortlessly gaining entrance while an unknown sound escaped her lips.

Sakura's brain gave up and focused on the gutted knots in her stomach instead. Knots, fireworks, worms, butterflies. Whatever that was going on down inside her was unhealthy.

Haruno Sakura was kissing a complete stranger. Yet, what was stranger than that was whilst it felt so foreign it also felt so damn _good_.

_To be continued…_

* * *

**A/N: **Drop me a word if you like it or hate it. ^_^ stick around for more.

You don't have to read the references & definition section below to understand the story. But it will explain a lot of language/cultural factors in future chapters if you don't know them already.

_**Cultural references & definitions **_

_- "Yosh!"_ or "_Yosha!_"= Loosely translated to "Alright, let's do this!"

_- Yamashikanai _– in Japanese this means "nothing but mountains" or "only mountains", a direct description of the town they're residing in. Honestly, I just couldn't think of anything better.

- The reason why Sakura goes out to give her neighbours a gift is because in Japanese tradition, it is polite to do so to your neighbours when you first move in. It gives one a chance to introduce themselves to neighbours, and also give a peace offering.

_- Chuu-hi _– an alcoholic drink that is mixed in flavour, similar to cocktails, it's VERY sugary and you could barely taste the alcoholic taste.

- Club and circles – in Japanese universities, clubs are stricter and require attendance because members often join competitions, compete against other universities and such. Whereas circles are more relax and more hobby and focused on socialising between people of the same interest, so members can come and go.

_- Teme_ – a rude from of saying "you". It doesn't mean bastard, but has that connotation. Naruto only ever uses teme when speaking to whomever that annoys him. I used it on a friend as a joke and he got really angry.

-kun - used for young boys. There is hardly a sense of endearment attached. Just for little boys, or students (who are younger). I often use this on younger boys, especially my underclassmen. Though, girls who use "-kun" tend to occur to me (personally) as a bit more feminine.


	2. Crush

** Crush**

Sakura loved shojo manga. The heroines were always so strong, so special, and so pretty that if she wanted to be them. The shojo manga heroine may not always be physically strong but also emotionally strong and would always prevail the trails set before her. Sakura also hated the stereotypical shonen manga heroines, who despite wielding great emotional strength mostly act as a supporting shadow for the lead.

For the first time in her life Sakura's situation was a bit like a shojo manga where her first kiss was stolen, and it was by no accident.

_A kiss. _

A gust of white petals and wind rushed against Sakura's bare skin and woke her up from the situation. Out of common sense, she drew all the power she could muster and pushed Uchiha Sasuke away, and out of natural reflex she also sent a fist at his jaw. "SHANNARO!"

_My first kiss. _

Sakura released the heavy breaths and found her own hand reaching out to trace the bottom of her lips. Her limbs felt like jelly and her mind was in disarray. _What the hell just happened?_

Sasuke remained apathetic and his eyes stared deep into nothingness, it was like the punch didn't affect him.

"Sasuke-kun! Come and play with us!" Ino's voice echoed from inside the room drove Sakura into a state of confusion. The yellow curtain was hiding them, but eventually she would have to head back.

…

Moments passed in silence and they feel like years to Sakura. She has never been so shaken before and took deep breaths to calm down.

The sound of the veranda door opened where Naruto emerged.

"Sasuke! Did anyone gave you chuu- "

_Chuu~ _

_Kiss._

_H-He is kissing Naruto!_

Sakura stood in the middle as a witness to Sasuke pressing his lips against Naruto's.

"NO WAY!" Sakura blurted.

Also out of natural reflex, Naruto sent a strong fist flying at Uchiha Sasuke's perfect face, successful putting him out before any further lip locking activities could occur.

"Who the hell gave the bastard chuu-hi?!" Naruto shrieked back to the room, halting all exercises in the vicinity.

* * *

"So this person lip locks with anything that moves when given sugar." Sakura reconfirmed the information given to her, trying to comprehend the ridiculous situation that has just occurred. The headache from the alcohol was slowly catching up to her and fowling her mood in the process.

Everyone sat in a circle in seiza, the drunk and tipsy alike looked down at the unconscious Uchiha Sasuke in the centre with disgust and confirmed. As ridiculous as it may sound, they were all dead serious.

Leader Neji noded in confirmation. "Aa, I've been a victim."

"Me too."

"Me three."

"M'four."

"Five."

Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Chouji and Lee.

Sakura's expression alone asked the unspoken '_Really?'_

"He doesn't get drunk on alcohol, but sugar." Tenten offered Sakura bottle of waterand settled to Sakura's right. Sakura sipped her drink gratefully, hoping that the water could somehow help her comprehend the strange case sugar induced intoxication. Any more alcohol and Sakura too would lose her self control and immerse in a family inherited temper.

"He only ever kisses boys." Ino sighed, Sakura did not miss the hint of disappointment lingering somewhere between her words. "Consider yourself lucky forehead girl."

_F-forehead girl? _Sakura decided that she disliked the half glare-half sceptical look Ino gave her. _What's her problem?_

"Naruto-kun just happens to always be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"H-Hinata!" Naruto whined. "But, Sakura-chan you've gotta give him a piece of your fist when the bastard is awake."

She was never one for violence.

"Sakura-san, I believe that one as beautiful as yourself should regard this as nothing less than being on the receiving end of youthful unpleasant sexual frustration-

"Ha?" There was something about Lee that eerily disgusted Sakura. "Sexual frustration?"

"Ignore this one. " Tenten knocked Lee out with a good punch to the head.

"Well, consider _that_ your welcome to the circle Sakura. Though I wouldn't mind giving him another piece of my fist in your place. After not molesting Akamaru – my dog."

Sakura refrained from going anywhere near the thought of making out with a dog. Considering the wide range of experience Sasuke had, it was no longer a surprise that he was a good kisser.

"I need to discipline Uchiha." Neji sighed.

"How troublesome. If you're going to discipline us by making us secretly follow Hinata around and act as her body guards again, then it's not going to work."

It was possibly that Sasuke wasn't the only one in the group that was strange.

"N-Neji-nii-san!"

"H-Hinata-sama it's not like that!"

"I say we feed him to the bugs."

Sasuke definite wasn't the only strange one.

Chouji cringed. "Shino, I don't think your bugs will like the taste."

"At least it wasn't your first kiss right" Ino chirped slapping Sakura's back hard enough to make her fall forward.

…

Sakura has just met Ino, yet the urges to rip the girl into pieces has been acknowledged within her.

Sai chuckled. "At least he's-" but never got to finish his sentence when Ino shoved a can of beer at his face. "Don't want to hear it!"

"Oh right, Ino you're into fun size." This time everyone threw a can of beer at Sai whilst Ino turned beet red.

"It wasn't, right? Sakura?" Ino pressed on.

It _was_ her first kiss. Years of strict education at the top institution, hours of cram school, extra-curricular activities, and self studying for medical school meant that love and dating has never been at the top of her priorities. Not that she was ever popular with the guys to begin with.

_Just shut the hell up Ino-pig!_

Soon Sakura could feel her own face blushed crimson red.

…

"EHHHHHH!"

She was eighteen years old and un-kissed until thirty minutes ago.

* * *

The morning sunlight seeping through the curtains woke Sasuke up to a painful sting. His head throbbed in pain and his vision was blurred because he had, once again, spent the night with his contacts on.

This time there was a different addition to his normal blurry vision, it was pink.

An unknown floral scent he never knew existed in Naruto's musky room filled the air he breathed in. It took a while, but his heavy head finally questioned why Naruto would have anything pink and floral in the room. It took several more seconds for him to realise that Haruno Sakura's face, inches away from his, was this very pink addition. Sasuke quickly jerked upwards, knocking her legs in the process and met another bolt of pain striking his face nerves.

For the first time in a very long time, Sasuke freaked out. _What the fuck happened?!_

A soft groan came from the girl beside him and she slowly rose up, one hand rubbing tired eyes like a kitten. Her expression shifted to an uncomfortable blush upon meeting his gaze.

"S-Sasuke-kun." She choked and her fist rose to a protective stance against him almost as if defending herself.

He questioned her action with a frown and she turned tomato red in response. "G-Good morning!" she laughed awkwardly as her hand messily fiddled to even out the locks of her hair. She was such a _girl._

Dehydrated and in pain, Sasuke searched around the room for a bottle of water, without a word or acknowledgement to the girl; he crawled toward the bottle and drained as much of the content as he could.

Naruto was still comfortably asleep. The others were probably home.

His attention diverted back to Sakura when he noticed movement from his peripheral vision. Sasuke didn't like admitting, but he was curious to what she up to?

Moments later, Sakura pressed a cold can of beer against the source of pain on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke winced, "What the."

"The bruise is awful." Sakura commented, her nervousness did not bypass him, and it makes him wonder. Just what the heck did he do to make seem as if she was walking on thin ice.

Sasuke took the can and Sakura finally let go, blushing as deeply as ever. She didn't look bad, nor was her hair messy but her hand immediate moved to fix her locks again. Her left hand tucked in strands of hair that were already tucked from the first fixture.

She was nervous, he concluded, just like the rest of the female species who has ever been under his intense stare.

Something about her gesture was so traditional and controlled, yet sneaked glances at him as like a shy little twelve year old. It made her look out of place, and made him wonder if she was for real.

He was wondering too much. He realised.

"Did I kiss anyone again?" Sasuke found himself asking almost too casually. Something inside told him that he did and that was the result of the pounding pain on his jaw.

Sakura stiffened, face burning into an even redder shade, she sneaked another glance at him and breathed out incoherently "N-N-Naruto. Hahaha…you…eh…kissed Naruto!"

Out of all people to kiss again. It was pathetic and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to bleach his mouth.

"I-I'm going to head back now, thanks for having me over."

"Ah!" Sasuke did not miss the soft twitch in Sakura's eyes. Her face wrinkled into an awkward smile and it dawned on him without needing any further observation. He watched her tumble out of the room clumsily.

Naruto woke up moments later and demanded that Sasuke 'apologise to the receiving end of a unfortunate release of sexual frustration', as Naruto liked to creatively describe it with the limited vocabulary the idiot could muster. And as much as Sasuke hated himself for even mistaking cherry chuu-hai for beer in a state of drunkenness and confusion, it was his weakness and he has come to accept it. Sasuke being Sasuke hated dealing with women, but Sasuke being Sasuke knew that those types were the easiest to deal with, because they can be read like a picture book. Those sheltered princess type who have had little experience with the real world was exactly what Sakura was.

For the following days, Sasuke completely missed her despite living on the same floor. It wasn't until a English class that he found himself in a room and the first thing he noticed was a flash of her pink hair, looking like the awful tasting cherry chuu-hai. By then most seats has been occupied. The only open ones were ever unattractive because the occupants were too giggly and battling their eyelashes as if their mascaras were too heavily applied. Sasuke opted for the free spot beside Sakura, who didn't seem to take notice of the commotion in the classroom until the clattering of chair beside her drew her attention away from her medical textbook.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" she uttered in surprise, and yet again her face plunged into a crimson blush making she looked like a perfect can of cherry chuu-hai with that forehead of hers. Sasuke would be in denial if he didn't admit that the girl was attractive in a non-invasive way. Sakura's slender frame was accompanied with a decent height, she was not too short to look like a child, and not too tall to deem intimidating to the male population. Her posture projected confidence and strength, not weak and helpless like the rest of the more popular girls.

"Aa." He replied, pulling out a notebook from his bag and a pen while completely ignoring the shock on Sakura's face. There was really no need to address it.

It didn't faze him few male onlookers in the classroom gossiping in hushed tones about the cute girl with pink hair. They noticed his watching eyes, and Sasuke returned their gaze with a smirk. _Cowards. _He recently developed a taste for provoking cowards, and seeing people squirm was ever so entertaining.

"You're also taking this class." She stated the obvious and hesitated before continuing, "what faculty are you from?"

"Law." He answered, eying her closely as Sakura's face showed her obvious discomfort in not knowing what to talk to him about next.

"I'm doing Medicine."

"I know." He deadpanned. She was obviously taken back and the twitch in her eye gave her irritation away. Sasuke was infamous for his lack of sensitivity, more or so in the past a lot of his fan girls left him alone exactly because of it. _This is interesting_. Sasuke waited for her to blow up, he would rather take another blow and called it even with her.

…

Instead Haruno Sakura's face formed a sugar coated smile. _Self control eh?_ Sasuke hated sugar, and he just knew that this girl was troublesome.

"About the other day…" Sasuke began, "I didn't mean to-

"Ah yes, everyone explained to me that it's because of the sugar. You know people do strange things when they're high on sugar, but it's okay really, I understand…" she continued babbling.

"I didn't mean it," when Sasuke was sure that he has gotten her attention, he continued, "forget what happened."

His words had put Sakura into dumbfounded silence.

It wasn't what a normal people would call an apology but Saskue's logics told him that it wasn't entirely his fault. Regardless, he was compelled to say something, so under muffled breath he whispered a soft "Sorry". Partially because the idiot would never shut up, but also partially because Sakura didn't deserve to have such _accident_ occur to her.

"It's nothing." She blushed and smiled softly in sincere way and it made him wonder why she would even smile.

_Her name is very fitting._ He absentmindedly acknowledged when his eyes trailed beyond Sakura to the field of cherry tress in the courtyard.

It was pink, white, every bright shade of colour he could think of, even that horrible cherry chuu-hai and it made him realise that Sakura was completely different to him.

"I'm sorry about your left jaw…" her cheeks flushed into an even darker shade of pink.

The most fatal blow, and the only one that left a bruise on his face that fateful night was due to the courtesy of Haruno Sakura. Not the blow that blacked him out.

Sasuke could feel his pride bleeding.

* * *

The overprotective nature of Sakura's father landed Sakura in various martial arts disciplines in the past. She had never intended to join any martial arts activities because they had simply branded her as a tomboy all throughout her schoolings.

The atmosphere was pleasant as Sakura settled on the sideline watching a spar match between Naruto and Lee. It wasn't until a certain Uchiha Sasuke entered the dojo that she choked on her own spit. He has the overwhelming kind of aura that could drown people.

Memories from days earlier where he had approached her an apologised, in his own way, came flooding back. Uchiha Sasuke has never occurred to her as the type to directly apologise and that confused her even more because it contrasts against his cold, apathetic image. Yet, despite looking 'too cool' to apologise, he did it somehow in his own manner, and it felt sincere. All of a sudden, the accidental kiss didn't bother her so much, unlike popular fiction assumption.

Ino's presence beside her broke her out of the trance. In the ring, Naruto counterattacked Lee in a series of kicks.

"Sakura! The flowers are in full bloom right now and we're planning a hanami before it ends. You up for it?"

"Of course!"

Ino followed Sakura's line of sight.

"Sasuke-kun eh?" Ino said knowingly. "I won't waste my time if I were you."

"No! It's not like that!" Sakura denied, almost too abruptly. It was the truth, because whilst Sakura did find Uchiha Sasuke attractive and was beyond curious about him, she knew nothing about the guy. She was just curious. "Besides, someone of his level would never fall for someone as plain as myself."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ino frowned, "I have to say he is easy on the eyes, had the biggest crush on him all throughout high school."

Sakura wasn't surprise to hear it, but at the same time, she had thought otherwise. "Really? You don't strike me as someone who would go mainstream."

"I'm not. But everything about him is just so perfect…" she muffled a cough and regained composure. "but that boy is as asexual as they get. Never seen him with a girl all though out high school, not to mention middle school. I got tired after a while and find that experimenting with the various male specie is much more interesting."

"I would have thought that someone like him would be surrounded by girls all the time." Sakura spoke her mind too quickly.

"He was and still is. Just that he never commits to one."

Sasuke was always surrounded by girls whenever Sakura had caught a glimpse of him around campus.

"Player!"

"I know right?"

"Heh~ but Ino~ from what I can see you still have a crush on him!" Sakura had meant to tease Ino, but the faltered smile and the serious look in Ino's eyes was enough to confirm her feelings.

"A _crush_ might be an understatement. But I know I'm not in _love_ with him."

_Honesty._ Ino was so honest with her feelings that it made Sakura jealous. Ino was a perfect shojo manga heroine.

"But sometimes I wonder if he and Naruto are stuck by the hips." Ino added, a twinkle of mystery shined in her eyes.

The image of the drink up incidence replayed in Sakura's memory and sent her into a fit of laughter.

"I've decided forehead girl, I like you." Ino said, clearly, cleanly and in such a carefree manner that Sakura appreciated.

"I think we're going to get along, Pig." Sakura replied and the two girls burst into another fit of laughter.

In the midst of her laughter, an aura of pressure drew Sakura's attention to an area in the dojo where she caught the man in question watching her with sharp eyes. Sakura instinctively stopped laughing when heat rushed to her ears and cheeks. Her heart constricted. His gaze was curious and searching, searching through her like an open book, and it scared her.

It was a crush, Sakura decided. She was merely appreciating the fine specimen.

* * *

As promised, days later the karate circle held a hanami event. Sakura could have never imagined that the university would actually have a field of cherry blossom trees right in the centre of the campus. Apparently, the karate circle's leader, Neji has an eye for things and had somehow found the place during one of his jogs.

"I must say this place is amazing!" Ino spread herself lazily onto the newly laid out picnic mat.

"Neji-nii-san has very sharp eyes for these things." Hinata replied while laying out the premade food.

"Hinata did you make all of this." Sakura probably didn't need to ask because Hinata seemed the type to be good at cooking. She was the sweet type, perfectly feminine, curvaceous figure, soft spoken, strong at combat and beautiful. She was like a perfect shonen manga heroine.

"Yes, but Neji-nii-san also helped!"

"You cousins act so lovey-dovey all the time," Tenten sighed, "who would have thought that the all mighty captain of our high school karate club would be such a sissy, all wrapped up around the finger of his cute little cousin."

Initially, Sakura could not imagine how such a straight laced up tight person like Hyuuga Neji would be such a loser for his little cousin. He just didn't seem the type. It wasn't until Sakura saw Neji going into hysteria when he had accidentally sent Hinata flying across the dojo with a fist. Hyuuga Neji had almost burst into tears of worry if Hinata had not woken up on time to assure him that she did not need an ambulance. Talk about a crazy sister-complex, or in this case, cousin-complex.

"Tenten-san!" Hinata cried.

"Tenten-san you're just jealous!" Sakura laughed.

"Hmph! Am not!" Tenten was the motherly type, Sakura observed. She has an uncanny ability to read the atmosphere and always made sure everyone was alright, always supporting, always cleaning up after the boys' mess. Her sharp tongue kept the boys in their places, she was the supporting character people often overlook.

"I absolutely wouldn't mind having someone as hot as Hyuuga Neji fussing over me!" Ino's comment earned her a disturbed look from Hinata sending Tenten and Sakura into fits of giggles.

"That is my cousin you're talking about."

"It would be nice to hear you girls talk about one of us for once!" Kiba who has brought into Akamaru today is extra cheerful. The dog barks at Kiba's comment as if understanding.

"Akamaru!" Hinata's eyes brighten when the dog kissed her before comfortably settling itself beside her "it's been a while hasn't it."

Seeing Akamaru made Sakura somewhat missed Pakkun. Pakkun was an old dog and has accompanied her through all stages of life.

"It must be nice to live at home Kiba, I sometimes really miss my dog."

"Sakura you have a dog too?" It was her first time speaking to Kiba.

"Yeah! His name is Pakkun! Lives with my grandma now, he is super cute right?!" Sakura pulled out a picture of Pakkun on her phone and showed Kiba, who in turn cringed.

"A-Ah yeah. Cute."

"Sasuke-kun! Over here over here!" Ino called out to the newly arrived Sasuke while motioning to the spot beside her.

"Yo! Ino!" Chouji and Shikamaru occupied the spot instead.

"Oi! That spot was for Sasuke-kun!" Ino angrily exclaimed, pulling on Chouji's collar as she continued with a colourful range of curses. Sakura wouldn't be too surprised if a fight did start, Ino was rather violent with the boys.

"What a troublesome woman." Shikamaru mumbled and began unwrapping the food. "Hinata these look awesome!"

"Thank you."

"Sakura-san!" Lee's voice called out to Sakura from the distance, eyes focused on the empty spot beside Sakura.

As much as Sakura enjoyed the attention, spending the entire evening with the beast was the last thing she wanted to do right now. Lee got rather clingy last time she sat next to him. So when Sakura saw Naruto and Sasuke approaching from a different direction, her quick thinking came into play.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! The food is ready now!"

"Sakura-chan!" just like that, Naruto pulled Sasuke by the neck, and dragging him along to settle beside Sakura before Lee could.

_S-safe!_

"Naruto! Stop being such a glutton!" Kiba yelled.

"Teme! What did you say you dog freak!" Naruto yelled back. The two boys dived in to compete for the food.

"Akamaru attack!"

"Stay away Kiba!"

"FOOD!"

"Oh my god, not you too Chouji!"

Sakura took the chance to manoeuvre herself beside Sasuke and ignored Ino's watching eyes.

* * *

"How trivial." Sasuke grunted at Naruto, Chouji and Kiba's fight for the food. Sasuke sometimes could not understand the unnecessary efforts Naruto and the others put into food.

"Sakura-san!" Rock Lee's voice hovered above them.

Sasuke has never had a particular opinion towards Lee outside his combat abilities, but it got annoying whenever Rock Lee was on another one of his ridiculous antiques in chasing after Haruno Sakura.

There hasn't been a day of peace in their sparring sessions with Lee obsessing over Sakura and chasing her around. And the girl, whilst obviously not interested did nothing to stop the affections thrown at her. To him, she was full of wonders.

"A-Ah! Lee-san, hello." Sakura replied with a smile Sasuke identified as fake.

"I must say that the lovely sight in front of us is very fitting as it perfectly describes you and your name."

Sasuke wondered how Sakura stomach those cheesy words because to him, as an onlooker, it was simply disgusting.

"Thank you?" Sakura answered, there was a half-heartedness in her voice that made Sasuke wondered why she would just not directly reject the man once and for all.

Sasuke has known Lee for quite sometime now Lee wasn't exactly the most talented in sensing the atmosphere. Lee's little attempts wouldn't have bother Sasuke at all if the he wasn't trying to push Sasuke out of the way.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't mind being left out of troublesome situations, but it annoyed him whenever people were disrespectful of him.

"Lee, get off, you're heavy." Sasuke commented making Sakura's eyes brighten. "There is plenty of space on the mat, go and find somewhere else to sit." He couldn't have made it any clearer.

Something along Sasuke's words must have flicked the fire switch within Lee's eyes because he literally burned. "Sasuke-kun! I challenge you to a duel! Right here right now!"

"EHHHHHH!" The shriek from Sakura was anything but lady-like.

What did he do now?

"Not interested. I fought you three times this week and you lost in all of them. We're here to look at flowers, not fight." Sasuke replied coolly. He really didn't mind fighting, but facing Lee again for the fourth time this week was no fun.

"That is why we must fight!" Lee raised his fist. Whenever Lee was in his burning mode, there was no stopping him. "Winner gets the attention of the prettiest flower of all!" he pointed at Sakura, who yelped in surprise. "That is unless if you're afraid of losing, Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke let out a long breath, he really couldn't fathom the stupidity sometimes.

"I'm not afraid of anything." Sasuke replied bluntly.

"Oh yeah? Then show it!" Lee got up, eyes menacingly challenging.

There was no backing out, he hated backing out of challenges. He was going to shut Lee up once and for all. "When I beat you, leave me alone for at least a month." Or at least for a while.

"Sasuke-kun too!?" Sasuke ignored Sakura who was a deer struck by headlights, he wanted to pound any unnecessary ideas out of her head, but he would have to save it for later.

"Lets go."

"If you two are so keen on training, I'll have you both run twenty laps around the university." Neji appeared in between the two. Sasuke has never feared Neji before, as the Uchihas practically grew up with the Hyuugas, but there was a sense of authority in Neji's voice that would make others cower.

Tenten used the chance to squeeze in between Lee and Sasuke. "Boys boys! Naruto, Kiba and Chouji are going to eat everything if you keep at this."

They all turned to the centre of the mat to find the three unceremoniously stuffing themselves.

"Those idiot, we haven't even kanpai yet." Neji pushed through to join Hinata.

"You, come and help me with the barbeque!" Tenten began pulling Lee away, and the boy did little to protest. Tenten could get scary whenever someone manages to tap her temper and Lee understood that better than anyone.

Despite giving in, Lee still made sure to continue glaring at Sasuke. The battle turned into a staring match.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called, "Let's eat." She said gesturing towards the food.

Sasuke smirked back at Lee, a perfect way to win the fight without getting physical occurred to him.

"Aa." He replied and settled down beside to Sakura, making sure he leaned into the girl close enough for Lee to see and smirked triumphantly back.

Sasuke won this round.

Victory and the look on Lee's face were _priceless_.

_To be continued…_

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading. Again sorry for the grammar errors.  
The last hanami I went to was awesome fun.  
Do drop me a note and say hi.

* * *

Hanami – literally means to "view flowers" or in the English translation "flower viewing party". It's a picnic sort of event to spend with family and friends under a cherry blossom garden/tree. For a lot of university students, it's just another drink up under a tree.

Seiza – traditional Japanese form of sitting where one fold their legs under the thighs while resting the bottom on the heels. Seiza somewhat demonstrate seriousness in which the situation above accounts for.


End file.
